Raiders host girls flag football skills camp at Southern Utah University

More than 40 athletes took part in the Las Vegas Raiders’ Play Football Girls Flag Football Skills Camp at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah, turning a one-day stop into a real development session for girls flag football in the region.

The camp centered on combine-style testing and on-field drills, giving players a chance to measure themselves while getting direct work on the core skills that decide flag football games. That meant acceleration off the line, route precision, ball handling, flag pulling, field awareness and playing in space, the same details that separate a decent day from a legitimate evaluation.

The setting mattered as much as the drills. Southern Utah University gave the Raiders a college backdrop in a part of the state where access to high-level football experiences is still building. In May 2025, the school said the Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games and the Las Vegas Raiders were teaming up on football events, a sign that the camp fit into a broader network of partnerships rather than a one-off appearance.

The Raiders presented the event under their Play Football youth-football branding, which places girls flag football alongside the league’s wider development push. That branding carries weight in markets outside the biggest media centers because it brings NFL visibility, structured coaching and a familiar pathway into the sport for athletes who are still looking for the next level.

The timing also lined up with the sport’s national climb. In January 2025, National Federation of State High School Associations executive director Dr. Karissa Niehoff called flag football the next emerging high school sport for girls. By June, the federation said it would write the first high school flag football rules at the request of member state associations, a step that formalized the sport’s rise even further.

NFHS has already pointed to growth in states including Colorado, where girls flag football has been sanctioned, and Nevada, where interest is building. Against that backdrop, a camp that drew more than 40 athletes in Cedar City was more than a photo opportunity. It gave players coaching, exposure and legitimacy, while showing how NFL-backed events are helping turn girls flag football into a visible recruiting and development route far from the sport’s traditional strongholds.